Nature's Wonders A Grim Future
by thezootopianadict
Summary: Hmm, how best to summarize? On one hand this is a story of defeat and destruction, on the other it is one of victory and redemption. On one hand it is the story of a killer, on the other it is one of a hero. On one hand it is a story all in of itself, on the other it is only part of one. On one hand it is a tale of an individual, on the other it is of a team.
1. Chapter 1 Grim

Even in the dead of night the Palm hotel was a place of energy and life. Around it multicolored searchlights danced, scratching the sky with claws of pink, blue, and green. Running up its sides were rooms flanked by lights ending beneath a canopy of immensely sized palm leaves.

Under that canopy a taxi stopped, the door opened. A female gazelle exited the cab to enter the hotel. As she did so the driver, a lazily dressed zebra spoke in a voice kept going by the coffee poured through it. "So this is were the famous Gazelle is staying?"

"I always stay here as most of my fans know."

"Well it's definitely a nice place." He wasn't lying. The front wall of the building before them had a plate of glass surrounding a pair of revolving doors. On the left there was a lounge of multi-sized chairs for all kinds of mammals, on the right a massive, bean shaped pond with palms in the center of the two protruding points. To the extreme right, a stand of newspapers closed at this late hour, opposing it a restaurant that was closed as well. Towards the back there was a circular reception desk with a massive tee whose limbs extended almost as a second roof. Beside the cab there was a fountain of a grand scale with water spouts spraying hundreds of gallons hundreds of feet into the air, so large in fact that lake was more fitting name.

"My agent won't allow anything less."

"Humph, wish _I_ had...", his words were cut short with the sound of shattering glass. Both looked up at the sound's source. Just beyond the building, silhouetted against the light of the moon, the shadow of a mysterious figure could be seen falling past the walls of the palm hotel. The two watched, dumbfounded, as the figure continued to fall, landing in the fountain beside the cab. In only a few seconds the figure surfaced, then swam quickly towards the two. It pulled itself out of the water then shook to dry, as it did so a flash lit him up. Gazelle turned to see a moose holding the phone that the flash came from, then turned back to look at the figure in front of her. The figure had turned to look at them, another flash lit up his face and frame. It was a bunny with fur, skin, and clothing dark as the cloak of night. On his chest he wore a cross belt, on his shoulders a cape that ran a length down his thighs before stopping at a withered end, above his cape on one shoulder there was a strap holding a pole with a sharp, bent blade. His eyes were bent with a scowl, on his snout he had a small mask of black plastic.

"W-who are you?", the pop-star's voice trembled in fear of the one who had apparently smashed his way through a room in the very hotel she was to stay in.

The figure looked at her, on his face he bore a scowl, "Grim."

His ears twitched, tripped by the sound of a far off siren. Moving quickly he ran to a storm drain, disappearing through the opening in the pavement.

.

"...witnesses reported a mysterious, black bunny jumping out of the building and landing in the fountain...", four hours before a very wet, and very foul-smelling Grim had returned to his room, a small, dingy apartment buried deep in the heart of "the den".

"..While we don't know why Doug was murdered", on screen there was the image of the police chief Bogo. At the sight of the buffalo's face Grim's nearly shot out to grab the remote, stopped only by the desire for the buffalo to finally give him credit. "we have confirmed that the mysterious Grim _is_ responsible for his death. Officer McHorn will run the footage that confirms his involvement.", his image vanished, replaced by footage portraying the scene of the night before. On the screen an image of Doug's room, dark, still containing the then sleeping body of the sheep. On the ceiling a vent was pushed out then pulled into the duct behind it. From the opening dropped the silhouette of Grim which landed silently on the floor. Taking a moment to examine his surroundings, Grim removed his weapon from his back. Taking it in paw he scraped its blade across the floor leaving, he knew, the skull of a rabbit with its ears still attached, a mark he left at every crime scene he visited. Then, spinning the scythe to its dull, rubberize end hit the floor to pull the lamb out of his slumber. The footage skipped ahead to the point were the two faced each other, each holding their preferred weapon in paw. Grim held his scythe, the weapon's strong build and single blade he liked more then any other tool. Doug faced him, in one paw he held a small net-blaster, in the other an air powered, duel-shot tranquilizer. The lamb moved first, firing a net and a dart towards the rabbit. While the net wrapped around him Grim brought his cape in front of him. The dart stuck in the cape but went no further. The net forced Grim backwards, throwing him on the floor. While the tape lacked sound Grim had heard the lamb's laugh.

However he was not entangled, a fact soon learned when he threw the net off him. Now free, he struck, jumping onto the now astonished ram's face. Grabbing the lamb's wool with his free paw Grim spun to the Ram's backside. Here the tape skipped again but Grim knew what happened next. He thrust the blade of the scythe into the lamb's back, killing him instantly. Now Grim stood over the Ram's dead body, wiping the blood on his blade on the ram's shirt. Then, turning to face the window and balcony, he removed a small, black disk from his cross-belt. After taking a minute to return the scythe to his shoulder her ran towards the window, tapping a button on the disk just before running into it. Instantly the window broke into millions of tiny shards allowing Grim to run through its now empty frame. Running onto the balcony he jumped, sailing over the short half wall and diving towards the fountain twenty floors below.

"Now are there any more questions?", the buffalo's face reappeared on screen. For several seconds the press room he stood in was filled with frantic questions regarding the bunny. "No, this is not the first time this rabbit has attacked. He has been active for several weeks though he usually targets mob bosses and this is his first high-profile murder." Again the questions thundered over him. "We know he has been active for a while because he leaves this mark at every scene." On the screen behind him an image of a rabbit's skull with ears appeared. The questions started again but then stopped after they found themselves drowned out by one reporter's shouting.

The microphone and camera turned to face her. She was a brown bunny with blue eyes dressed in a suit with a black tie. "Why didn't you know this was a rabbit before?!"

Bogo lifted a hoof to stop her, "We did not have footage of him previously and also..."

"He's been leaving a rabbit's skull everywhere he goes, I have have been reporting on this story for months now, at every crime scene there have been witnesses testifying to his existence. At every scene his description has been the same."

"If you knew all this why didn't you say something?"

The rabbit's face twisted with anger, "I did!", she pointed a finger at the chief, "But you and your department won't listen to any one if they're a bunny!" Bogo said nothing but glared in past the camera into the face of the smaller bunny. Unfazed by the bull's glare she continued. "You didn't listen to Cotton and you would't listen to me!"

"Cotton was volatile and insubordinate. He gave no reason to..."

Once again the rabbit raised her voice, Grim could imagine her barring her teeth at the buffalo, "You say that because he was a bunny, you say it because he was smaller then you were, you say that because you're afraid..."

Bogo turned a hoof, the mic moved away from the bunny, a fact made known by her voice being muffled by the distance between them. The camera turned back to her just in time to see her being dragged out of the newsroom by a hippo and rhino.

The screen went black, in his paw Grim held the remote, a finger on the power button. After a few seconds of silence his phone buzzed, an alarm he had set the night before to remind him of his "office" call.

.

The "office" was in Kozlov's palace, a restaurant of immense scale with walls, ceilings, and floors coated in thick ice. Even the chandeliers were coated in ice and even had icicles dangling beneath them, in fact the only thing in the entire room not covered by ice was the chairs on which the patrons sat, kept free by the warmth of their rumps. While the building seemed (and functioned) like a legitimate business it did, in fact, serve as a front for its owner's criminal activities. Within there were many scores of preds, each wearing a collar of black with a small, round device attached to it. From the plates of many, the smell of fish wafted. Just over two years ago the smell would bother him but now it had no effect.

Surrounded in the smell the owner sat before a plate of halibut fried to perfection. He wore a jacket of black atop a turtle neck of a similar shade. round his neck he wore a pair of gold necklaces, on his finger he bore a band of gold, on his face an expression blank of expression. Turning he saw the bunny, and, saying nothing, pulling a wad of cash from his coat pocket and tossed it towards the bunny.

Grim took the cash, and stuffing it into his pocket, turned to leave.

"You see the news? Think she will find you?", the polar bear's voice was deep, rough, intimidating.

Grim stopped, turning back to face the bear, "If she does she'll end up like me."

The bear spoke again, "If she does point her to me, okee-doke?"

Grim turned quickly, his teeth grinding. Soon he found himself outside of the restaurant. Stopping he turned to see the image of Bogo on a poster for the ZPD. Walking quickly he drew a paw out to touch the face of the paper. As soon as his claws touched the surface he brought it down, tearing four lines across the face.

Taking a step back he glared at the torn image, "That's for Cotton."

Behind him a voice unfamiliar to him spoke, "That was so unnecessary."

Grim spun on his heels, his scowl deeper then it usually was. Behind him there was a skunk dressed in a suit of fiery orange with protruding shoulder-straps on its sides.

On her waist she wore a belt of red with a small sack hanging off it, small, circular plates with the red sketches of a fiery pheonix in a background of black held the shoulder-straps in place. In all, the outfit seemed out of place, her suit looking as if she had stepped out of some medieval movie. "That chief," his voice was raised to a shout, his paw pointed towards the torn poster, "killed Cotton!"

The skunk rose a brow, "I doubt that."

Grim's scowl further deepened, "He did, Cotton's gone!"

The skunk took a step forward, placing a finger over his heart, "Cotton's here."

"Can't tell you how many times I've heard that."

"Then let me prove it." Her paw left his chest and moved into the sack on her side. "Meet me here in your death suit and I'll show you that Cotton still lives."

She pushed forward a card, Grim took the card and examined it. On its face there was an address, an address Grim neither knew nor recognized. "Not that I'm ungrateful but...", he stopped as he looked up to speak to the skunk. Somehow she had left without his knowledge. Looking back at the card Grim sighed and stuffed it in his pocket.

* * *

 **OK, finally I have Grim in a story of his own. Just in case you guys are wondering, this is the first part of a much larger series I've been wanting to do for a long time. The series is called Nature's Wonders and will consist of multiple mini-series such as this one. For the time being, the series will focus on introducing the multiple OCs in the series before Nick and Judy join in. Some of the mini series may include, Nature's Wonders; Fire and Ice, Nature's Wonders; The Digiaverse, and Nature's Wonders; The Lone Wolf (Some may or may not be omitted, we'll see). I expect Nick and Judy to join in at the start of Nature's Wonders; The Awakening. ****Please, please tell me what you think of Grim so far and what your opinions are on the idea.**

 **Special thanks for Blazeneko for suggesting the idea of doing this in a mini series.**


	2. Chapter 2 The Tale Of Cotton

_Three years ago_

"So, you're the new bunny?", the receptionist looked down over his desk to get a better view of the much shorter bunny. He was a moose wearing a basic, unarmored uniform with long sleeves.

Cotton straightened, on his face he bore a smile, "Yep!"

"Five bucks says you'll quit in two weeks.", he sank back in his chair and turned to face his laptop.

Cotton's ears drooped and his smile faded, "Why?"

The moose turned again, lifting up a cup of coffee as he did so, "Cuz no bunny can handle this job."

Cotton's ears rose again, his smile returned. "Well I'll see you and set the bar at twenty."

"Well you'd better get over to the bullpen, otherwise you'll be _fired_."

.

The bullpen was quite a sight for the bunny that had never left home. Within he could see the bodies of Rhinos, Elephants, Wildebeest, and more. Each was seated in a chair of semi-glossy metal with two massive cushions of yellow. Placed before each chair was a table of white plastic held up by four, grey, metal legs with rubber caps. From his vantage point on the ground he could not help but notice the waffle pattern on the bottom along with the hing and claw for the legs. On his left there was a loud thump, turning quickly he saw a Rhino with his arm on the table that should have been at his rear, in front of him sat a hippo with a dejected look on is face. Finding a chair in the middle of the room he reached his paws up, quickly pulling himself onto the seat. Just in time too for in the next second the chief entered the door.

In short order all the officers left, their assignments in paw, that is with the exception of Cotton and Bogo. When asked about this fact the buffalo straightened, "It's because I have something special for you.", on is face he bore a smile, his voice was sweetened, "You have the Chuck Greyson case, your cubical is number 43."

.

 _Two Hours Later_

"Greyson, why you did you bring bunny into my restaurant?"

The wolf said nothing, instead setting the rabbit gently on the icy floor and removed the cloth bag off his head before he stepped back. "He knocked out half of us before we, well, that...", he pointed to the rabbit who wore suit of blue which was covered around the waist by cloths of white. Despite his apparent injuries the rabbit tried to rise, groaning from the pain in his sides, stopped by the touch of Grey's foot.

The bear turned back to face the wolf, "Explain."

"Well sir,", the wolf moved his gaze away from the injured bunny, "it was something like this..."

.

 _One hour earlier_

"OK boys, load it up!", only moments before Greyson and his pack of wolves had entered the cavernous expanse of an old warehouse. Arranged in rows there were shelves of green supported by columns of orange. Behind him there was a white utility van of white driven by the wolf Tim.

One of his wolves looked around confused, "Where are the boxes?"

Grey turned to his friend, "Fang we go over this every time, they're over..."

"You're under arrest!"

Spinning quickly they saw a black ball of fur. "Who are you?", as he said this Grey inquisitively leaned his head to the right.

"Jeffery Cotton, ZPD."

"And you know we outnumber **and** out-size you right?"

"I can see that."

Grey shrugged, "Get him."

Following his orders two wolves drew their weapons and fired. Before their fingers had even touched their triggers however, Cotton had jumped unto a shelf, disipering form view.

Fang scanned the room, "Where'd he..." Cotton's foot contacted his face quickly knocking him out.

Quickly the rest of the wolves formed a circle around him, weapons drawn. "Give up, there is...", as Grey said this the bunny ran towards the largest wolf's face, springing off of it onto a shelf above. Grey waived his paw in the air, "Circle, circle."

For a few seconds the wolves stood in a tight circle, waiting for the bunny to return. As they waited Fang recovered, "Is he gone?"

Grey looked down at the wolf who sat in the ground. "Yes, keep your weapons primed case he returns."

.

Tim sat in the driver seat, beside him in the passenger seat sat Grey, inn the back, hanging on to the ceiling for dear life, stood Fang. Along with Fang there was two rows of boxes held against the walls by cords of orange bungee. As they entered the tunnel connecting the Rain Forest district to Tundra Town Grey heard a thump from behind.

Turning he saw Fang sniffing one of the boxes in the back. "What are you doing?", he asked.

"We need to make a side stop along the way."

.

Turning into an alley within tundra town the van slowed to a crawl to turn through the maze of walls and bins before parking in front of a door coated in a thick layer of ice. Taking a minute to clear the door, Grey pulled a tab which lifted the door open. The van pulled in and parked in the end as Grey closed the exit behind him. As soon as the door to the garage had closed Fang opened the double doors of the van holding a box on his arms. Quickly he went to the front of the van and set the box down and removing from it a fluff ball of black by his ears.

"I smelled him through the box... Ouch!" Cotton pulled himself up, biting Fang's paw making the wolf drop him on the floor.

Before the bunny could move Tim lunged towards him and grabbed him by the waist. "Look we don't... Ouch!", his collar went red, a jolt of electricity hit his throat, making him yelp in pain. As he yelled his grip on the rabbit tightened, from Cotton's sides came streaks of red. Realizing the rabbit's discomfort he released him. Cotton rose quickly and started towards the van but fell to the floor, feeling suddenly drowsy from his loss of blood.

"Someone get him a medical kit.", Fang rose quickly, following the order.

.

After hearing the story a grin crossed Koslov's lips. "This bunny did that?", Grey nodded, "Well I know just what to do with him then."

 **.**

 **So yeah, ch2! Please tell me what you think. I know it's rather short (I'll try to make longer chapters in future) but I wanted some suspense at the end of 2 to carry up on for 3 (also I can't type super well).**


	3. Chapter 3 Something's Wrong?

**OK, to those who read the original ch.3 I'm sorry. I was told that describing everything was important to a story and I tried to take that to heart. With that in mind I aks you to completely forget about it. The events in that chapter are gone, they never happened.**

 **Thanks for your understanding and please enjoy my chapter**

* * *

 _Fifteen minutes later_

Cotton walked to a position before the wolf, stopping to look up at the larger mammal. "Why did you bring me here? Why not leave me to die?", here was small medical clinic set in some corner of Sahara Square were only minutes before Cotton's sides had been cleaned and stitched.

Grey lifted his gaze off his phone and directed it towards the smaller mammal, "Kevin will explain."

"OK, new question, who's...", before he could finish his question the door to the clinic swung open. Behind the threshold there stood a polar bear who wore a suit of black. Around his left wrist he wore a small, watch of gold, on his neck a tie of red. Aside form the menacing curve of his lip downwards his face was devoid of expression.

The bear turned to face Cotton's direction. "You the cop?", his voice was deep, delivered in a slow, menacing tone.

The bunny straightened, rising himself to his full height. "Yes."

The bear walked towards him, stooping and lowering his head to face the rabbit when there was about three feet of space between them. "Then a word of advice, be careful."

Cotton crossed his arms, at the same time the left of his mouth turned upwards, scrunching his eye between it and the brow. "You came here to tell me that?"

At that the he bear quickly crouched down to get closer to the buck's face, "Kozlov did not save your life so it could be wasted by your chief. Today you were lucky, Kozlov admires those who fight when they're outmatched but few others do.", as Kevin continued to speak Cotton's ears drooped, his face relaxed due to the realization of just how much danger he in. "There's also the issue with your chief..."

"What about him?", Cotton's ears instantly swung back to their original height.

"The chief doesn't want you in the force and will do anything it takes to have you go, be it by your resignation or else by your body bag. Take my advise, leave... now."

Cotton scowled at the bear, "I will not quit until I have proved myself."

"Well then", as the bear spoke he placed his immense right paw into his left coat pocket, "take this." He removed his paw and stuck it out in front of the bunny.

In the outstretched paw there was a single card, surprisingly scaled not for a bear but for him. He took it, holding it between both his paws so that his thumbs were on top of of its face. Printed in black there was the words, "KOZLOV'S FAMILY LIMO SERVICE" To the right of the text there was a pair of small boxes outlined in black. Together they held an address and a phone number.

The bear rose quickly to his feet, "If you ever find yourself in need, Kozlov is here."

As soon as the bear had passed beyond his vision Grey rose behind him. "Well I gotta go, need a lift?"

.

 _Three hours later_

Two and a half hours before Cotton had returned to his apartment. A small room who's walls and floors reveled their age through the divots and stains across their surfaces. Lacking light the room was dark, the only source of light being the laptop that was set up on the table before him. Siting on his bed he was surrounded by the flashing light of the screen, behind him his shadow seemed to writhe and leap as in in some sort of possessed state.

Suddenly the phone placed beside him buzzed. Picking it up he rushed to close the computer, leaving the room vulnerable to the onrush of blackness. Tapping the phone's screen the image of his parents came into view. Answering it he sucked in a breath

The image on the screen blurred for a minute as the two devises bridged the miles-wide gap. "Hey!", his parents' voices came as one. His mother's fur was all black, much like he, the only difference between the two being her eyes of green. On her shoulders she wore a red, button down with sleeves most certainly rolled down.

"Hey mom, hey dad.", despite how he felt he forced a cheerful tone in his voice.

Quickly his mother answered, "We were wondering how your first day was "

"Oh, it was...", he sighed, "interesting."

Both of his parents pushed their faces into the camera, their faces bearing the look of concern. "What's wrong?", both of their voices came as one muffled whisper.

"It's just...", pausing for a minute he lifted his fist before slamming ion the table with a thud, "I'm confused. As of now the only mammals who have treated me with any kind of respect have been those I've been sent to arrest, or should be anyway. The only one who is not a criminal, officially at least, has been the chief and that _may_ have been a ruse for me to lower my guard."

"Oh I'm so sorry honey I..."

Cotton continued, interrupting his mother's words, "Everyone else hasn't paid me much mind, not the doctor who stitched me up, not the..."

As one his parents cried out in surprise.

"It's fine, I'm still talking aren't I?"

Together the pair nodded.

"Back to what I was saying, at several points"

"So what do you plan to do?", as she asked her voice was notably filled with concern for her offspring.

Taking a minute before he answered he sucked in a breath of air, "Tomorrow I'm going to ask to patrol 'The Den'. While I'm there I'm going to look over all of my gear to make sure that no one is against me. If I see anything that says there is then I'll look around, if the mob will help when the department won't then something's wrong, I don't know what but there has to be something."

"Well, good luck son."

"Thanks mom."

"Bye."

"Bye.", as he hung up the phone he sighed. "What have I gotten myself into?"

As he lay on his back he gazed at the ceiling, eyeing the rectangle of orange light in the center. Listening with his mighty ears he heard a siren from some car far off. "What am I thinking? 'The Den'? No one's there. If the chief is really set against me, and I get myself in trouble I might as well be...", slowly his gaze shifted to the table on his right. For a few minutes he simply staid there, laying on his bed. Then He rose, sighing, "Guess I might as well have him on speed dial."

He stooped to grab the card and his phone and with them he moved to the window. With the light of the lamps beyond the window he read the card. The number, 200-987-8732, was soon entered into his phone. Task complete he set the two objects down and walked back to his bed, "Now at least I'll have some chance in there."

After pulling the green covers over himself he turned over to his stomach. With his body reversed his head was forced into his pillow. Quickly his breathing slowed, his thoughts and worries retreated in the onslaught of sleep. Hours later the alarm on the table stated a war against sleep. In seconds, sleep lost. Cotton rose form his bed and immediately steeped towards the orange box to terminate its call to rise.

"Alright, time to get some answers."

* * *

 **OK then, ch.3. Just a brief not this was supposed to be ch.4 but with ch.3 erased that had to be changed. From this point forward I'm going to try and avoid any radical changes to my writing style. If any changes are done they will all be minor altercations that hopefully don't add a bunch of useless words.**

 **Hope you liked this chapter and I'll hopefully see you next time for chapter 4, bye.**


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